“If you weren’t expecting it,” I said, “and if he had gotten both of you in front of him-”
“You guys would have been his out,” she said. “Gannon would have made it look like it was all on you.”
“It really was just him? Nobody else from the lodge was involved?”
“It doesn’t look like it. It turns out Helen and the Trembleys weren’t even around last Saturday. That’s the day those men supposedly flew back.”
“I knew about Helen not being there. Trembley, that’s Ron and Millie, right?”
“Yeah. They were all in Timmins that day, buying storage containers, so they could pack everything up and move.”
“So you talked to them,” I said. “I mean, since yesterday-”
“Three months, McKnight. He was three months away from retirement. This was like the last thing he could do for somebody. Flying out there like a cowboy, getting you and your friend out of there, saving you from going to jail. That was the last big stupid thing he was gonna do before he retired.”
I closed my eyes.
“The Berards waited around all day yesterday. By this morning, when they still hadn’t heard anything, they finally decided they had to call us. I went up there, got the whole story from them, drove over to the lodge. The plane wasn’t there. Everybody was gone. The whole place was closed up. We tried reaching him on the radio-”
She stopped. She looked out the window.
“The Northeast regional commander himself called me and asked me how I could not know where my own partner was for a day and a half. Then he told me to get over to the airport, because I was going out to help look for him.”
She rattled the cuffs around, and then pulled them tight.
“Gannon killed him. He flew him up there and killed him. He shot him right in the back. While I stayed behind, not doing a damned thing.”
I let the silence hang there for a moment, not sure if I should say anything. “Do you have any idea what this is all about?” I finally said. “I mean, once it was done, he was afraid of what your partner would find up there. That almost makes sense. But to kill those other men like that in the first place-”
“We don’t know, McKnight.”
“Those men were all from Detroit. You’ve got no idea how they figured into this?”
“Not right now.”
“This isn’t over,” I said. “We’ve got to find out what happened.”
She looked at me. “I’m not going to talk about this anymore. You need to go home and get well. And cooperate with whoever you need to, back in Michigan.”
“I’m free to go?”
“Yes, you are.”
“And Vinnie?”
“Yes.”
“I lost my partner, too,” I said.
She took a moment to think about it. “When was this?”
“In Detroit, when I was a cop. My partner and I were both shot. He died. I didn’t. I spent a lot of time blaming myself.”
“So you’re saying you know how it feels.”
“Yes.”
“I shouldn’t have hit you before,” she said. “But if I don’t get out of here right now, I swear I’m gonna do it again.”
“I understand.”
“Like hell you do,” she said. And then she left.
Chapter Twenty
An hour later I was standing. That was my big accomplishment so far that day. It felt like somebody had put needles all over the floor, but I was on my feet and that meant I could move around and maybe even get out of there. I was slowly walking around the bed when Guy and Maskwa appeared in the doorway. Maskwa came right up to me and grabbed both of my arms.
“Alex,” he said. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m standing,” I said. “That’s enough for right now.”
He kept studying me. “You look terrible.”
“Don’t worry about me,” I said. “Have you seen Vinnie?”
“Yes. His face-”
“He was actually very lucky. Although I’m sure he doesn’t feel that way.”
Maskwa looked at his grandson, then back at me, shaking his head slowly. “We are so sorry,” he said. “We were trying to do the right thing.”
“I know, Maskwa. Nobody could have imagined this.”
“The constable wouldn’t let us fly back to get you. He told us he was going to go get you himself.”
“He may have saved your lives.”
He looked at me close. “DeMers. That was his name, right?”
“Yes.”
“I still can’t believe it.”
“At least we found Tom,” I said. “At least we did that much.”
“You are a good friend, Alex. And now Vinnie needs you more than ever. Time will heal his body, but his spirit… It is very sick. You must know that.” “We’ll take care of him,” I said. “I will, and his family.”
“Good, good. And if you ever need anything from us. Anything. You call us.”
“There is one thing.” I said.
“Anything.”
I gave him my keys. “I left my truck at your house.”
He laughed. “Of course. We’ll bring it over.”
While I was waiting for them, I asked the nurse for something to put on my feet. She brought me some slippers that looked like folded-up old newspapers, maybe size 15 or so. They barely fit on my swollen feet. After a couple more minutes of practice, I went padding down the hall at one mile per hour until I found Vinnie’s room. Fortunately, it wasn’t hard. The entire Hearst Medical Center might have had ten rooms total, and Vinnie’s was two doors down from mine.
He was lying on the bed when I came in. The whole right side of his face was bandaged, and his feet were propped up in the air, just like mine had been. He was staring at the ceiling.
“Vinnie,” I said.
He looked over at me, then down at my feet. “Nice slippers.”
“Are you all right?”
“Never better.”
“Vinnie, I’m serious. Are you okay?” If his spirit was sick, like Maskwa had said, I couldn’t see it.
He sat up in the bed. “They told me your feet were twice as bad as mine. We’re gonna have to get you some better boots next time.”
“Next time, eh?”
“I promised to buy you a beer,” he said. “Let’s get out of here.”
We found our clothes, signed some papers, and then waited for a prescription for Vinnie. An hour later, the staff sergeant came to see us one more time. He asked us a couple more questions, nothing he hadn’t asked before. He seemed reluctant to let us go, but finally he did. We stood by the front door, waiting for Guy and Maskwa to bring the truck around. It was a decent day for October in Ontario-no snow, no rain. The temperature was even above freezing. It made it a little easier to walk outside in our cheap slippers when the truck showed up. We said goodbye to Guy and Maskwa again, and then we were finally on our way home. It was hard to feel the pedals under
